I hope everyone enjoyed the extra day on the weekend, a mini-break to get us through to the end of the term. We have a busy fortnight ahead of us, starting with Band Night on Saturday evening. The girls have done an excellent job preparing their performances and organising the sound, lighting and marketing. Tickets have now sold out and we are looking forward to what promises to be a very entertaining evening.

Next week we will have our annual Eucharistic Procession on Wednesday 18 June. Parents are welcome to join us for the procession. This is always a beautiful occasion and an opportunity to thank Our Lord for his presence among us. The Athletics Carnival for Years 3 to 12 will be on the following day, Thursday 19 June at Harold Corr Oval, Cambridge Park. The House Captains and Leaders have been busy preparing their chants and posters. Good luck to all our athletes.

Today I announced to the staff that Marina Haines will be finishing at Montgrove at the end of the term. After 27 years of working at the schools, Marina has decided that it is time to retire. As the Founding Principal firstly of Orchard Hills Preparatory School in 1999 and then Montgrove College from 2007 to 2013, Marina ensured that the schools in the Western Suburbs were built on very solid foundations. She has seen the schools grow from the 15 young boys who started at Orchard Hills Prep to almost 1,250 students across both Montgrove and Wollemi. We are deeply grateful for the many years of hard work and sacrifice that she has dedicated to establishing the schools and looking after the families and staff in the schools. We will miss her wisdom, her sense of humour and amazing talent for story-telling. Thank you, Marina and we wish all the very best for your retirement!

This year is the 50^th anniversary of the death of St Josemaria. As you know, St Josemaria was the founder of Opus Dei, and during his lifetime, he encouraged parents to start schools like the Pared schools in Spain. These schools recognised the importance of the parents’ role as the first educators of their children, and focused on forming a partnership between the parents and the school as a way to encourage character growth and excellence. This year, there are two Masses being held in honour of St Josemaria – one in St Mary’s Cathedral on 23 June, and one at St Nicholas of Myra (Penrith) on 26 June. Details can be found here: https://opusdei.org/en-au/article/masses-in-honour-of-st-josemaria-australia-june-2025

Congratulations to the following students who have recently received Principal's Awards

• The Primary Monty went to Antonia Mallett for being a great help to her teachers and classmates during their pilgrimage

Please pray for our sick and injured family and friends:

Cecilia Obeid (5G), sister to Clare (4G) & Lucy (2G); Giorgio Murgolo, son to Michael Murgolo (Founding Class); Simon Elbayeh, father to Olivia (7G); Raphaella Roberts, sibling to Anna (12) & Azaliah (2G) Roberts, cousin to Seraphia (9B), Miriam (7B), Jacinta (5B), Danielle (3B) and Joseph (1S) Karam; Joshua Gibbons (Yr5 Wollemi), brother to Catherine (8B) & Madeleine (7B) Gibbons; Easter Nasayao-Montenegro, aunt to Lael Nasayao (4B); Lucy Bates, sister to Sarah Tuballa (Librarian and Religion teacher), aunty to Charlotte (10B) & Felicity (4B) Tuballa; Walter Daniel Valenton, uncle to Elyssa (8G), Marcela (3B) and Daniela (3B) Valenton; Vengie Pangilinan (Former teacher); Helen Stanojevic (KG Teacher); & Emmanuel Hanna, brother to Cecilia (10B) & Lucia (7G) Hanna.

Please also remember those who have passed away:

Aden McFarlane, great grandfather to Charlotte McFarlane (4G); JamieDowsett, father to Marcus (KG); Argyna Santiago (Class of 2025); Bruce Kilpatrick, father to Julie Blazevic (school secretary), grandfather to Lisa Djurdjevic (library assistant) & great grandfather to Thylane Djurdjevic (2B); Benjamin Santiago, father to Argyna (Class of 2025); Aiyana Cabanero (Yr10 2019) sister to Amara (10) Cabanero.

If you would like to add any intentions to the Prayer Board, please send them to melanie.merriman@montgrove.nsw.edu.au. Please also let Melanie know when your intentions can be removed. 

Having just celebrated Pentecost Sunday, we can pay attention to Pope Benedict XVI, who, in the homily he gave at the All-night Eucharistic Vigil at WYD, in Sydney, in July, 2008, declared something of vital importance for all educative endeavours:

“Love is the sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit! Ideas or voices which lack love – even if they seem sophisticated or knowledgeable – cannot be “of the Spirit”. Furthermore, love has a particular trait: far from being indulgent or fickle, it has a task or purpose to fulfil: to abide [my highlighting]. By its nature love is enduring [my highlighting]. Again, dear friends, we catch a further glimpse of how much the Holy Spirit offers our world: love which dispels uncertainty; love which overcomes the fear of betrayal; love which carries eternity within [again, my highlighting]; the true love which draws us into a unity that abides!”

True love in this earthly life always involves sacrifice, as St Josemaría points out in “The Forge”, 504: “Love is sacrifice; and sacrifice for Love’s sake is a joy.” What Pope Benedict focuses upon seems to be the sacrifices involved in the very effort of teaching, whether in the home, or in the classroom, involving preparedness and patience. What is crucial is love for the happiness, especially the everlasting happiness, of those who are the recipients of the teaching. Crucially, love has a name, the Holy Spirit, and, for believers, calling upon him, to guide and bless our educative efforts is something which is always at hand.

Absence forms are done through the Engage Parent Portal. The Engage Parent Portal allows you to access your children's reports, complete absence forms and see your account details for both Wollemi & Montgrove. You would have already received your username and password earlier in the year.

Kindergarten to Year 6

Start:            8:50am

Finish:           3:00pm

Kindergarten and Year 1 students may be picked up at 2:45pm from their classroom. Please note that this is only applicable for parents who ONLY have children in Kindergarten and Year 1. We kindly ask that you do not collect any students from the Year 2 to 6 classrooms.

Kindergarten to Year 6 students arriving after 8:50am will be required to sign in at the office.

Year 7 to Year 12

Start:            8:30am

Finish:           3:15pm

Year 7 to 12 students arriving after 8:30am will be required to sign in at the office.

• If you have children in both Kindergarten and/or Year 1 AND a primary student, please collect them after 3:00pm. 
• If you have children in both Primary and Secondary school please collect them between 3:15pm and 3.30pm. 

Parents are reminded of their responsibility to ensure students are dressed in the correct school uniform each day, including sports days.  Montgrove has a summer and winter uniform which are worn during the different terms. 

In Term 2 and 3 students are to wear the Winter Uniform

Winter Uniform

Boys

• Long Sleeve shirt
• School Tie
• Shorts
• Knee-length socks
• Navy Pullover

 Girls - Kindergarten to Year 6 

• Long sleeved white shirt - peter pan collar
• Checked Winter tunic with bow tie
• Navy-blue tights 
• Navy Pullover
• Blazers (Years 2-6)
• Straw Hat (Years 2-6)

 Girls - Year 6 to Year 12

• Long sleeved white shirt - pointed collar
• Checked Winter skirt
• School Tie
• Navy-blue tights 
• Navy Pullover
• Blazer
• Straw Hat 

Sports Uniform

Kindergarten to Year 1

• Infants Sports Polo Shirt
• Track pants
• V-neck sloppy joe

Girls - Year 2 to Year 12

• House Polo Shirt
• Microfiber Navy Shorts
• Microfiber Navy Pants
• Microfiber Jacket

Kindergarten to Year 6

• Students arriving after 8:50am need to have their name recorded at the office.
• An Engage Late Arrival note needs to be completed for students arriving after 9:00am. 

Year 7 to 12

• Students arriving after 8:30am need to have their name recorded at the office. 
• An Engage Late Arrival note needs to be completed for students arriving after 8:35am. 

   Band Night is SOLD OUT!!  

The annual Athletics Carnival for girls in Years 3 – 12 will be held on Thursday 19th June 2025 at Harold Corr Oval, Cambridge Park. The carnival will commence at 8.30am SHARP. All students (Years 3 to 12) will need to arrive no later than 8.30am. It is a school day, and as such, attendance and participation is compulsory. Students are required to find their class teacher at 8:30am and before they leave the carnival at 3pm to have their name marked off.

All students must present a note on the day to their class teacher excusing them from participation if they are unfit to participate for any reason.

Parents are invited to attend the carnival to support your daughter/s. For safety and organisational reasons, an allocated area will be made available for parents. All students are to remain in their schoolhouse area unless marshalling or competing. If you are able to provide assistance throughout the day (whole or part of) please send an email to clare.bolton@montgrove.nsw.edu.au

The 1500m Secondary event will be marshalled at 8:25am SHARP. Please ensure students are on time if they wish to participate in this event.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

DATE: Thursday 19th June 2025

VENUE: Harold Corr Oval, 32 Herbert Street, Cambridge Park

TRANSPORT: Please organise your own transport to and from the carnival. There will NOT be a bus service organised on the day

TIME: 

• 8:30am - Morning roll call
• 3:00pm - Carnival concludes

LUNCH: Lunch, snacks & water (there will be a canteen available for students throughout the day)

UNIFORM: All students are to travel in their full Montgrove sports uniform. They may put on their ‘theme/colour’ outfits once at the oval. Students will need to be in the correct sports uniforms when competing. Please be prepared for all weather conditions. It is recommended that all students bring a mat to sit on, warm jumper, raincoat and sunscreen. Students will need to bring enough water for the day. 

In the event of heavy or constant rain, parents will be notified the day before if the carnival will be postponed and it will be a normal school day.

Please ensure you have completed the Engage parent permission form by Monday 2^nd June 2025. 

The AISNSW are hosting an art competition open to students in K-12. Students are invited to create an artwork using the theme “Teachers: Empowering every student to shine”. Montgrove is eligible to enter 2 artworks from Primary (K-6) and High School (7-12. For a chance to enter your artwork, submit your entry by Week 8, Friday 20th June 2025 to Mrs Lianne Guevarra. Please visit this link for more information.

For other inquiries about the art competitions, please contact Mrs Lianne Guevarra, Head of CAPA (lianne.guevarra@montgrove.nsw.edu.au)

Staedtler’s Secondary School Artists of the Year Competition is coming soon and open to Year 7 to 12 students. For more information, please visit this link.

The NSW Premier's Reading Challenge is now open and Montgrove College is excited to be participating!

What is the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge?

The PRC is a statewide Challenge that encourages students to develop a love of reading for leisure and pleasure in students and enables them to experience quality literature. It is not a competition, but a challenge to encourage each student to read, to read more, and to read more widely.

All students who complete the challenge and have their reading record validated by the school’s PRC coordinator will receive a certificate signed by the Premier of NSW.

How many books do students need to read?

Students in Kindergarten to Year 2 are challenged to read or experience 30 books. 20 of these books must be from the relevant Challenge booklists, and up to 10 books can be personal choice books. Books can be read with a parent, carer, teacher or another student. 

Students in Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 20 books independently. At least 10 of these books must be from the relevant Challenge booklists, and up to 10 books can be personal choice books.

If a book is from an approved PRC series, students can enter up to 5 books as Challenge books, and can read up to 10 other books from the same series as Personal Choice books. More information on the rules of the Challenge can be found on the PRC website.

Books must be added to a student’s online reading record by Friday 22 August 2025 in order for their reading record to be validated and receive a certificate.

How do students log their reading?

Students can access the PRC’s Student Experience site using their DoE username and password, or can log into the site via the Student Portal. A video guide explaining how to use the Student Experience site can be found here. All students have been given their login details. 

How can students find books on the NSW PRC challenge lists?

Montgrove College library has a wide variety of titles on the NSW PRC.  In addition to our selection, Penrith City Library also has an extensive selection of PRC titles.

Sarah Tuballa

PRC Coordinator at Montgrove College

Two Montgrove students Mikha Joseph, Year 9 and Anastasia Vu Nguyen, Year 8 competed in the Regional Finals for the Rostrum Public Speaking Competition. These students had to pass the school rounds and win the district finals to make it to this level. In the regional finals the students needed to present two speeches; a prepared speech and an impromptu speech.  We are so proud of both girls for representing Montgrove exceptionally well.  Congratulations to Mikha who was awarded Runner Up!

Mikha has written a short reflection based on her experience.

On the 12th of May, Anastaisa Vu Nguyen (Year 8) and I (Mikha Joseph (Year 9) competed in the 2025 Regional Finals of the Rostrum Public Speaking Competition after winning the district finals and passing the school auditions. Before the competition Anastasia and I spent a multitude of lunches and free times outside of school preparing and practicing our speeches to do our best at the competition. 

At the Regional Finals we had to recite 2 separate speeches, the first one was the prepared speech (6 min long) that we recited in the earlier district competition. Both Anastasia and I made our speeches about “From little things…” which was one of 5 topics we could choose from. The second speech was the most important one, the Impromptu speech. The topic for this speech was given on the day and after receiving it we only got 15 minutes to make a 3 minute speech about 1 of 3 topics. I chose the topic “What's important to me?”. Overall the competition was very interesting but stressful and the competition was fierce but we pushed through and both of us did amazing and pushed our abilities to the max! At the end of the competition I received “Runner Up (2nd place)” out of the other 5 exceptional public speakers at the competition!

One thing both Anastasia and I will always continue to do is to hone and sharpen our Public speaking skills to compete again, next year.

• Lessons during class time for infants and primary students.  Before school lessons for secondary (or after school at a nearby private studio)
• Beginner to advanced levels taught
• Two optional student recitals held each year at the Joan Sutherland Centre
• AMEB piano and music theory examinations offered
• Teacher is accredited and a full member of the NSW Music Teacher’s Association

Montgrove College Trading Hours 2024

Mondays: 8:30am to 12:30pm

Ordering online couldn’t be simpler.

 Go to www.midford.com.au

1. Select Montgrove College from the online School Shops tab.
2. New users to click the ‘Register New Account’ button.
3. Start the registration process by selecting Montgrove College from the drop-down menu and add Montgrove unique school pass phrase: Montgrove2007
4. Add your personal information, create a username and password.
5. Order the items you need, select pick up from the uniform shop on Monday's or option of home delivery.

NOTE: Choosing home delivery is the fastest way of receiving your orders and home delivery is free for all orders over $50.

Please book appointments through our online appointment system by using the below link.  https://Midford.as.me/MontgroveCollege

For enquiries please email: montgrove@midford.com.au

All school fees must be paid via your Edstart account where you can opt for weekly, monthly, fortnightly, termly, or annual instalments. Pared will no longer accept direct payments.

As part of our commitment to parents, Montgrove will absorb the administrative fees for your Edstart Plus service, so that this service is free for families to use.

Edstart is a leading provider of payment and technology services for the education sector and currently works with thousands of parents at over 600 schools around Australia, with a key focus on providing personalised service for each family.

What are the benefits of partnering with Edstart?

1. Flexibility:

Edstart provides families with more options and greater flexibility when it comes to paying school fees, at no additional cost. For example, with an Edstart Plus account:

• Choose your preferred day for when payments are made

• Spread your payments over your preferred time frame during the school year

• Option to pay via direct debit, debit/credit card or BPay

• During difficult times, families can be offered flexible payment schedules

• Adjust your payments at any time

2. Paperless & secure:

●      Payment Information will be submitted and stored through Edstart’s secure online platform, so families can be assured of data security.

●      Direct debit forms no longer need to be printed. 

3. Customer Service:

●      Edstart provides Pared parents with a dedicated customer service team who can promptly respond to queries and questions over the phone, email or through their website’s live chat function.

If you haven't already, please set up your Edstart account online at edstart.com.au/pared.

1. PARED will issue the Invoice / Fee Account Statement once by week 2 of every Term 1, 2, 3 and 4.
2. This Invoice includes: Tuition Fees, Curriculum and Technology Levy (CTL) and Building Levy only.
3. The Pared Schools have partnered with Edstart to provide more flexibility and choice with your school fee payments. All school fees must be paid via your Edstart account where you can opt for weekly, monthly, fortnightly, termly, or annual instalments.
4. As it occurs, PARED will issue separate invoices for activities other than those in Item 2 above.  This will include major camps, major excursions, certain elective co-curricular expenses, band program, elective music software,  loss of or damage to laptop, PDHPE workbook, school diary, etc. 
5. These should also be paid via your Edstart account